A federal court in Florida on Friday reviewed the schedule for the trial of former US President Donald Trump over his potentially lax handling of classified documents. The trial is scheduled to begin on May 20 and will likely be delayed for several months.
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The heavy favorite in the Republican primaries for the November presidential election, who is the subject of four separate criminal cases, is seeking to stand trial as late as possible, certainly after the vote, with his multiple appeals.
In addition, a final hearing will be held in Georgia, another state in the southeast of the country, where Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants who are being prosecuted for illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Judge Scott McAfee.
After hearing both sides, the judge stated his intention to make a decision within the next two weeks.
If he concluded that there was a conflict of interest justifying the withdrawal of prosecutor Fani Willis because of her close relationship with an investigator she hired in the case, it would further postpone the conduct of this trial, for which no date was given Firmly.
In Florida, where he is facing charges along with two of his aides for improperly storing confidential documents, Donald Trump attended the hearing on Friday, behind closed doors but followed by a pool of media presided over by Judge Aileen Cannon.
According to these media, the judge described as “unrealistic” certain deadlines that the team of special prosecutor Jack Smith, in charge of investigating this case, had planned and proposed July 8 as the new start of the trial.
She noted that she wanted a sufficient timeline to allow for “flexibility,” particularly because of the possibility of overlap with other criminal proceedings against the ex-president.
immunity
Donald Trump's lawyers argue that “a fair trial cannot take place until after the 2024 presidential election.”
They still mentioned August 12 for their client and one of his co-defendants, but suggested that the court wait until the United States Supreme Court ruled on the immunity claimed by their client as a former president.
The nation's highest court on Wednesday addressed this unprecedented issue of a former president's criminal immunity and the holding of his federal trial over illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, a matter also investigated by Jack Smith, postponed further.
That trial, which was scheduled to begin March 4, is now postponed until the Supreme Court rules.
If he is re-elected, Donald Trump could order the federal case against him to be dropped after he takes office in January 2025.
He is charged in Florida with endangering national security because after he left the White House in January 2021, he kept classified documents, including military plans or information about nuclear weapons, at his private residence in that state instead of turning them over to National Intelligence Archive in accordance with legal regulations.
Another espionage law prohibits the storage of state secrets in unauthorized and unsecured locations.
He is also accused of attempting to destroy evidence in this case on a total of 41 counts.